Like most gearheads out there, I love
guitars, amps, and effects that effectively
blur the lines between practicality, great
tone, and art. The greatest, most-classic gear
designs—from the Fender Telecaster to the
Vox AC30—were perfect combinations of
the three. And there are few greater thrills
for the gear-obsessed than walking the
aisles of their favorite guitar shop, eyeing
mysterious eye-grabbing pieces and wondering
if the sound will match the flash.
Mark Bartel of Tone King Amplification
(a member of the Premier Builders Guild)
knows well the payoff that comes from putting
those elements together right. He designs
his amps with a very simple philosophy—distill
great guitar tones down to their basic elements,
and then design an amplifier around
them. His amps have already attracted the ears
of Mark Knopfler, and his latest creation—the
Tone King Galaxy—will likely impress the
famous and anonymous alike with its capacity
for big, clear 6L6 tones, low-end girth, and
snarling sounds when it’s wide open.
To Boldly Go . . .
The turquoise-and-white Galaxy is a showstopper.
Stacked on the matching 2x12 cabinet,
its Jet Age style looks like a cross between a
’57 Chrysler and a mid-century television—it
really looks like it should be making a martini
while broadcasting John Glenn’s Mercury mission
and kicking out Ventures tunes. The head
is fairly light, weighing in at 36 pounds. Even
when hauling the head and the 35-pound
cabinet together, I was surprised at how light
the whole set is—especially given that the cab
houses two 12" Tone King 33 speakers (which
are made by Eminence)
and an optional Tone
King Ironman attenuator. (The latter uses
a transformer-coupling design rather than
a resistor-based build to attenuate volume.
According to Tone King’s Bartel, this facilitates
the most transparent and clean attenuation
possible. Either way, the attenuator
enables you to enjoy the Galaxy at home just
as easily as at the club or studio.)
Bartel says one of the most critical factors
in capturing a great guitar tone is superior
speaker cabinet design. He’s built hundreds
of test cabinets—examining factors such as
wood type and grain direction, as well as different
coatings and fastening methods—to
achieve the proper voicing for the Galaxy.
The cabinet can be elevated with four removable
wooden legs (not shown), and doing
so only accentuates the amp’s likeness to old
tube televisions. It took some elbow grease to
loosen and remove the feet, but that’s probably
a good sign that there’s no immediate
danger of stripping the mount. But while it
was a relatively straightforward procedure, a
slide-out design would be quicker for gigs.
The build quality of the Galaxy was just as
impressive as its knockout looks. I was unable
to find any finish or construction flaws. The
tips of the screws holding on the cabinet’s
rear baffle were visible inside the cab, but
I really had to feel around in there to find
them. Every knob turned smoothly but also
had a pleasing resistance that’s nice for setting
precise levels—and keeping them there.
Though it’s a 2-channel amp, the Galaxy
is simple as could be. The clean Rhythm
channel has Volume, Treble, and Bass knobs,
and things are just as easy on the Lead channel,
which makes do with Volume, Tone, and
Mid-Bite knobs. The latter fine-tunes the
midrange growl. A traditional long-spring
reverb unit and tremolo lend space and texture
to the Galaxy’s tone. And this thing has
tons of tone on tap. With 60 watts of power
from a quartet of cathode-biased 6L6 power
tubes, the Galaxy obviously takes a page out
of the vintage Fender book. Keen-eyed amp
aficionados will notice an empty tube socket
next to the leftmost 6L6. That socket is coupled
with a large switch that lets you toggle
between an optional 5AR4 tube rectifier (for
a looser feel) or an internal circuit that emulates
a 5AR4—in case you’re willing to sacrifice
some tube authenticity for convenience.
Out-of-This-World Tone
It’s tempting to look at the Galaxy’s retro
looks and assume the tones are purely
a retro exercise, too. But while it’s rich
with tones that typify the late ’50s and
early ’60s—from surf-able cleans to biting
blues—it’s capable of much, much
more. I plugged in a Strat, flipped to the
Rhythm channel, and set the attenuator
to wide open. With a single Am7 chord,
I was treated to some of the cleanest,
punchiest, most harmonically rich tone
I’ve ever encountered. Memories of a
long-lost vintage Bandmaster filled my
head as I laid into the strings with varying
degrees of pick attack to explore the
Galaxy’s impeccable touch sensitivity and
satisfying tonal body.